Search Results

Creator:

National Portrait Gallery  Search this

Type:

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2015-08-19T18:03:33.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Portraits  Search this

See more by:

NatlPortraitGallery

Data Source:

National Portrait Gallery

YouTube Channel:

NatlPortraitGallery

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_HxIA3QE_3Uo

Creator:

Smithsonian American Art Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2012-12-03T15:37:21.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

See more by:

americanartmuseum

Data Source:

Smithsonian American Art Museum

YouTube Channel:

americanartmuseum

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_SjHpTmzGg4o

Creator:

Smithsonian American Art Museum  Search this

Type:

Interviews

YouTube Videos

Uploaded:

2012-12-05T14:00:03.000Z

YouTube Category:

Education  Search this

Topic:

Art, American  Search this

See more by:

americanartmuseum

Data Source:

Smithsonian American Art Museum

YouTube Channel:

americanartmuseum

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:yt_oM4GB1dspPI

Artist:

David Smith, American, b. Decatur, Indiana, 1906–1965  Search this

Medium:

Steel and paint

Dimensions:

30 × 116 1/4 × 5 1/2 in. (76 × 295.2 × 14 cm)

Type:

Sculpture

Date:

1954

Credit Line:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Joseph H. Hirshhorn, 1972

Accession Number:

72.266

See more items in:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

School:

Abstract Expressionism (First Generation)

On View:

Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC), Plaza

Data Source:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/py2ea16d1a3-6df4-423b-8903-8238b94da394

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:hmsg_72.266

Interviewee:

Tomkins, Margaret, 1916-2002  Search this

Interviewer:

Guenther, Bruce  Search this

Subject:

FitzGerald, James  Search this

Artists Gallery (Seattle, Wash.)  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Citation:

Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Margaret Tomkins, 1984 June 6. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Artists -- Northwestern States -- Interviews  Search this

Art, Modern -- Northwestern States  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)12308

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)212455

AAA_collcode_tomkin84

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_oh_212455

Artist:

Joan Mitchell, American, b. Chicago, Illinois, 1926–1992  Search this

Medium:

Oil on canvas

Dimensions:

110 1/4 × 204 3/4 in. (280 × 520.1 cm)

Type:

Painting

Date:

1973

Credit Line:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David T. Workman, 1975

Accession Number:

75.20

See more items in:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Collection

School:

Abstract Expressionism (Second Generation)

On View:

Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Washington, DC), 3rd Floor

Data Source:

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

GUID:

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/py2b742002a-9a46-4d25-aff1-979a50e54daa

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:hmsg_75.20

Creator:

Yunkers, Adja, 1900-1983  Search this

Names:

Alice Simsar Gallery  Search this

Impressions Gallery of Photography  Search this

Smith Andersen Gallery  Search this

Bjornstjerna, Mikael  Search this

Grossman, Morton, 1926-  Search this

Haley, Donna  Search this

Olsen, Cheryl  Search this

Wood, Denis  Search this

Extent:

2.32 Linear feet ((partially microfilmed on 3 reels))

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1939-1983

Scope and Contents:

REEL N70-16: A typescript (42 p.) address delivered at the Corcoran Museum of Art, 1967, by Yunkers describing his student years in Russia, and later years in Germany, France, and Mexico, ca. 1917-1928, and relating political, social, and cultural events to the development of modern art. He describes Russia before and during the Revolution and Germany during the Weimar Republic. Also included are a resume; a critical bibliography of Yunkers work; typescripts of 2 articles; and clippings.

REEL D251: Printed material, 1941-1965, including newspaper clippings, magazine articles, reviews, exhibition catalogs and announcements, and press releases.

REEL 1023: "Prints in the Desert: New Mexico," 1950, a limited edition book of prints and poetry produced by a collaboration of artists under the leadership of Yunkers.

UNMICROFILMED: Biographical material, including naturalization papers and a passport; files of letters from Mikael Bjornstjerna (1977-1983), Cheryl Bowers (1978-1983), Morton and Chris Grossman (1979-1982), Donna Haley (1982-1983), Denis Wood (1978-1983), Yunker's daughters, including Nina (1979-1983); business and personal correspondence, 1960-1983; files on galleries handling Yunkers' work, including Smith Andersen Gallery (Palo Alto, Calif.), Alice Simsar Gallery (Ann Arbor, Mich.), and Impressions Gallery (Boston, Mass.) containing correspondence, price lists and receipts; a few sketches and a collage; 2 portfolios, "Creation" (1941) and "Ars: Tidskrift for Konst Litterature Och Veteskap" (1942) containing original prints and collages by Yunkers; 2 appointment books, 1980-1983; notes and writings; photographs of Yunkers, Yunkers at work, his family, friends, studio, and art work; photograph albums, including 2 of Yunkers' studios in Stockholm, Sweden, New Mexico, and New York City (1942-1980) and one of exhibition installations, undated; photographs by Denis Hare of the making of Octavio Paz's book BLANCO, illustrated by Yunkers, and slides of prints included in BLANCO; and printed material, including exhibition announcements, clippings and miscellany.

Biographical / Historical:

Abstract painter and printmaker, collagist, and art instructor; New York, N.Y. Died 1983. Born in Riga, Latvia. Studied in Leningrad, Paris, Berlin, and London. He moved to the United States in 1947. Faculty member of the New School for Social Research, 1947-1956; Cooper Union, 1956-1967.

Related Materials:

Adja Yunker papers also at Syracuse University.

Provenance:

Materials on reels D251, N70-16, and 1023 donated by Adja Yunkers, 1966-1970, and transferred to NMAA-NPG Library vertical files after microfilming, except "Prints in the Desert: New Mexico" (REEL 1023). Unmicrofilmed material donated 1984 by Marina and Alexandra Yunkers, Yunkers' daughters.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm.

Unmicrofilmed: ACCESS RESTRICTED; written permission required.

Occupation:

Art teachers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Painting, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Prints, Abstract -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Artists' illustrated books  Search this

Prints -- 20th century  Search this

Identifier:

AAA.yunkadja

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ddbf2fbb-ff0e-4910-8bf2-70c282edc073

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-yunkadja

Interviewee:

Marisol, 1930-2016  Search this

Interviewer:

Roberts, Colette, 1910-  Search this

Names:

Art Students League (New York, N.Y.) -- Students  Search this

Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Ecole nationale supérieure des beaux-arts (France) -- Students  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Rauschenberg, Robert, 1925-2008  Search this

Extent:

1 Sound tape reel (Sound recording, 7 in.)

34 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound tape reels

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1968 Feb. 8

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Marisol conducted 1968 Feb. 8, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art.

In the interview Marisol speaks of her childhood spent both in Chile and France; the encouragement of her parents and teachers to draw freely; her progression from painting, to drawing, to collage and reliefs; the influence of Europeans, Matisse and Picasso, and American, Rauschenberg; her time spent in museums as a child and the subsequent exposure to DaVinci and Rembrandt; her art education, predominantly in New York at the Art Students League and briefly in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux Art; her association with the Abstract Expressionists at the Club; the contrast of her work to the dream-based Surrealists; her first show for Castelli in 1957; her shows at the '62 and '64 annual exhibitions at the Stable; her more recent exhibitions for the Carnegie and Sidney Janis Gallery of The Beach and The Party; the origins of her wood drawings as a discovery while drawing lines to be sculpted upon wood; her experience working for the Daily Telegraph and completing portraits of historical figures such as Charles DeGalle; the literary influence of Dostoeveski, and more specifically Crime and Punishment; her recent apathy for visual entertainments and diversions (like the Ballet). Both in the interview and afterwards in a supplemental biographical addition Roberts and Marisol allude to her resistence to sit for interviews. The artist feels that she doesn't "have much to say."

Biographical / Historical:

Marisol (1930- ) is a sculptor in New York, N.Y. She was born in Paris to a Venezuelan family.

General:

Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 1 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 15 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.

Restrictions:

Use requires an appointment.

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Collagists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Surrealism  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women sculptors  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Identifier:

AAA.mariso68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9e444fa50-829d-4a34-b0f7-2d5a9faa81c4

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-mariso68

Writer of foreword:

Rondeau, James  Search this

Curator:

Petridis, Constantijn  Search this

Author:

Biro, Yaëlle  Search this

Cole, Herbert M.,  Search this

Kone, Kassim  Search this

Lawal, Babatunde 1942-  Search this

Van Damme, Wilfried  Search this

Vogel, Susan Mullin  Search this

Host institution:

Kimbell Art Museum  Search this

Art Institute of Chicago  Search this

Physical description:

356 pages illustrations (chiefly color), portraits 33 cm

Type:

Exhibitions

Expositions

Essays

Illustrated works

Exhibition catalogs

Ausstellungskatalog

Bildband

Place:

Subsaharisches Afrika

Fort Worth

Chicago

Date:

2022

21st century

03.04.2022-31.07.2022

20.11.2022-27.02.2023

Topic:

Art, African  Search this

Aesthetics, African  Search this

Sculpture, African  Search this

Esthétique africaine  Search this

Art africain  Search this

Sculpture africaine  Search this

PHILOSOPHY / Aesthetics  Search this

Kunst  Search this

Kimbell Art Museum  Search this

The Art Institute of Chicago  Search this

Data Source:

Smithsonian Libraries

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:siris_sil_1154659

Creator:

Guerrero, José, 1914-1991  Search this

Type:

Scrapbooks

Citation:

José Guerrero papers, 1945-1982. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Hispanic American artists  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Theme:

Latino and Latin American  Search this

Lives of artists  Search this

Record number:

(DSI-AAA_CollID)5479

(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)211183

AAA_collcode_guerjose

Theme:

Latino and Latin American

Lives of artists

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_211183

Creator:

Guerrero, José, 1914-  Search this

Extent:

0.4 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Scrapbooks

Date:

1945-1982

Scope and Contents:

The papers of José Guerrero measure 0.4 linear feet and date from 1945 to 1982. The papers document his career as an abstract expressionist painter through some correspondence, some business materials such as a consignment and some price lists, exhibition announcements, and exhibition catalogs. Included among the catalogs is one for the "José Guerrero" retrospective exhibition in Spain in 1981. The catalog is in Spanish, but there is also an English translation of the catalog.

Biographical / Historical:

José Guerrero (1914-1991) was a Spanish artist, notable for his abstract expressionist paintings, who spent much of his working life in the United States. Guerrero was born in Granada, Spain in 1914, and he studied at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Granada and at the Escuela Superior de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Following the end of World War II he traveled and studied throughout Europe in cities such as Paris, London, Rome, and Brussels. He evenutally moved to the United States in 1949 and settled in New York City where he studied with avant-garde artists such as Willem de Kooning. Prior to his move to the United States Guerrero worked primarily as a figurative artist, but shifted towards abstract art in 1950. His artwork is held in various institutions in both Spain and in the United States. Guerrero died in Barcelona, Spain in 1991.

Separated Materials:

The Archives of American Art also holds microfilm of material lent for microfilming (reels D388 and 2668) including correspondence with galleries, museums, and art organizations; photographs of artwork and travels; printed material, including 2 scrapbooks of clippings, press releases, exhibition announcements and catalogs; manuscripts; financial material; awards; identification papers; and lists of artwork. Loaned materials were returned to the donor and are not described in the collection container inventory.

Provenance:

Material on reels D388 and 2668 lent for microfilming 1969 and 1982; unmicrofilmed material donated 1982 all by Jose Guerrero.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Printmakers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- Spain -- Madrid  Search this

Topic:

Latino and Latin American artists  Search this

Hispanic American artists  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Genre/Form:

Scrapbooks

Identifier:

AAA.guerjose

See more items in:

José Guerrero papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw911d51eeb-e312-463b-a455-a5d3be2532f3

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-guerjose

Creator:

Archives of American Art  Search this

Type:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Podcast

MIME Type:

audio/mpeg

Uploaded:

Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:00:00 -0500

Topic:

Art  Search this

American  Search this

See more episodes:

Oral History Collection from the Archives of American Art

Data Source:

Archives of American Art

EDAN-URL:

edanmdm:podcasts_5f78896c3020d5f9b3dc645ed8b9da24

Interviewee:

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Interviewer:

Seckler, Dorothy Gees, 1910-1994  Search this

Names:

Club (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Biddle, George, 1885-1973  Search this

Guston, Philip, 1913-1980  Search this

Nicolaïdes, Kimon, 1892-1938  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Robinson, Boardman, 1876-1952  Search this

Extent:

36 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Sound recordings

Interviews

Date:

1965 June 10 and June 12

Scope and Contents:

An interview of James Brooks conducted 1965 June 10-12, by Dorothy Seckler, for the Archives of American Art.

Brooks speaks of his childhood, early art training, study with Kimon Nicolaides and Boardman Robinson at the Art Students League, mural projects, and his work in advertising. He comments on the Artists Union, his Air Force service, Army art projects, teaching at Columbia and Pratt Institute, an early abstract expressionist group called "the 8th Street Club" or just "The Club"; influence of Hans Hofmann, practicing Zen, changes in his work, his use of line and his drawings. He recalls George Biddle, Philip Guston and Jackson Pollock.

Biographical / Historical:

James Brooks (1906-1992) was a painter from East Hampton, New York.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 4 digital wav files. Duration is 1 hr., 59 min.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Restrictions:

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Topic:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.brooks65

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw941282273-bd41-41f0-abf2-8a2db1e3600c

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-brooks65

Creator:

Baziotes, William, 1912-1963  Search this

Names:

Kootz Gallery (N.Y.)  Search this

Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)  Search this

Peter A. Juley & Son  Search this

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum  Search this

Alloway, Lawrence, 1926-1990  Search this

Barr, Alfred H., Jr., 1902-1981  Search this

Baziotes, Christos  Search this

Baziotes, Ethel  Search this

Baziotes, Harry  Search this

Bernshṭin, Meʼir, -1978  Search this

Blesh, Rudi, 1899-1985  Search this

Bodin, Paul, 1910-1994  Search this

Canaday, John, 1907-1985  Search this

Castano, Giovanni, 1896-1978  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Guggenheim, Peggy, 1898-1979  Search this

Halper, Nathan  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Hélion, Jean, 1904-1987  Search this

Janis, Harriet Grossman  Search this

Kamrowski, Gerome  Search this

Kootz, Samuel Melvin, 1898-1982  Search this

Lee, Francis P.  Search this

Licht, Michel, 1893-1953  Search this

Matta, 1912-2002  Search this

Motherwell, Maria  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Namuth, Hans  Search this

Onslow-Ford, Gordon  Search this

Paneth, Donald  Search this

Peterson, Charles  Search this

Picasso, Pablo, 1881-1973  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Ricci, F.  Search this

Ruiz-Picasso, Maya  Search this

Schumm, Gertrud  Search this

Schwabacher, Ethel, 1903-1984  Search this

Sievan, Maurice  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-1980  Search this

Vazakas, Byron  Search this

Zulieta, Orlando  Search this

Extent:

6.3 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sound recordings

Interviews

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Date:

circa 1900-1992

bulk 1935-1980

Summary:

The papers of New York City abstract expressionist painter William Baziotes and his wife Ethel measure 6.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900-1992, bulk 1935-1980. The collection includes William Baziotes biographical material, correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs. The papers of Ethel Baziotes consists of correspondence mostly dated after her husband's death regarding exhibitions of his work, along with limited biographical material and writings.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of New York City abstract expressionist painter William Baziotes and his wife Ethel measure 6.3 linear feet and date from circa 1900-1992, bulk 1935-1980. The collection includes William Baziotes biographical material, correspondence, writings, printed material, and photographs. The papers of Ethel Baziotes consists of correspondence mostly dated after her husband's death regarding exhibitions of his work, along with limited biographical material and writings.

Biographical material on William Baziotes consists of a bibliography, teaching files, a sound recording of an interview, membership cards, sales records, a sketchbook, and other miscellaneous material. There is one folder regarding Ethel Baziotes containing a few certificates and her college diploma.

Correspondence consists of letters to William and Ethel Baziotes. Notable correspondents include Lawrence Alloway, Alfred Barr, Andre Breton, Clement Greenberg, Peggy Guggenheim, David Hare, Jean Helion, Maria and Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, and others. There are also letters from the Samuel M. Kootz Gallery regarding the sales of William Baziotes's artwork and letters written by William Baziotes to his brother Christos. Letters to Ethel Baziotes include condolence letters as well as letters from museum and galleries regarding exhibitions of her husband's work.

Writings include William Baziotes's notes on various subjects, a list of book titles, and a transcript for a speech. Writings by others include essays about William Baziotes and other subjects.

Printed materials consist of clippings, announcements, magazines, and many exhibition catalogs, mostly on group exhibitions which included artwork by William Baziotes.

Photographs are of William Baziotes, Ethel Baziotes, family and friends, their residence, and his artwork. There are a also photographs of Meir Bernstein, Samuel Kootz, Paul Bodin, Maria Motherwell, Pablo and Maya Picasso, Rudi Blesh, Nathan Halper, Ethel Schwabacher, Clyfford Still, and others.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as 5 series.

Series 1: Biographical Material, 1933-1982 (Box 1; 0.3 linear feet)

Series 2: Correspondence, 1936-1988 (Boxes 1-2; 1 linear feet)

Series 3: Writings, circa 1950-1992 (Box 2; 0.2 linear feet)

Series 4: Printed Material, 1944-1992 (Boxes 2-7, 9; 4.1 linear feet)

Series 5: Photographs, circa 1900-1979, bulk 1940-circa 1963 (Boxes 7-9; 0.7 linear feet)

Biographical / Historical:

William Baziotes (1912-1963) was an abstract expressionist painter in New York City. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Baziotes moved to New York City in 1933, where he studied painting at the National Academy of Design, 1933-1936. He participated on the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project as a teacher, 1936-1938, and painted for the Easel Painting Project, 1938-1940.

In 1941 he married Ethel Copstein. He had his first one-man show at Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery in 1944. The Samuel M. Kootz Gallery, Inc. held a solo show for Baziotes in 1946 and continued to exhibit his works until 1958.

Baziotes taught at Subjects of the Artist, 1948; the Brooklyn Museum Art School and New York University, 1949-1952; the People's Art Center at the Museum of Modern Art, 1950-1952; and Hunter College, 1952-1962. Baziotes died in 1963.

Provenance:

The William and Ethel Baziotes papers were donated by Ethel Baziotes, widow of William Baziotes, in several installments from 1969 to 1993.

Restrictions:

Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center.

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art, Abstract  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sound recordings

Interviews

Photographs

Sketchbooks

Citation:

William and Ethel Baziotes papers, circa 1900-1992, bulk 1935-1980. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.baziwill

See more items in:

William and Ethel Baziotes papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9d6f7f943-90c5-4dd7-b527-e69d86772014

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-baziwill

Creator:

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Krasner, Lee, 1908-1984  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Martha Jackson Gallery  Search this

Benton, Thomas Hart, 1889-1975  Search this

Brooks, James, 1906-1992  Search this

Burkhardt, Rudy  Search this

Cavaliere, Barbara  Search this

Davis, Bill  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Dehner, Dorothy, 1901-1994  Search this

Eames, Ray  Search this

Forge, Andrew  Search this

Friedman, B. H. (Bernard Harper), 1926-  Search this

Glaser, Jane R.  Search this

Gray, Cleve  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Gruen, John  Search this

Holmes, Doloris  Search this

Isaacs, Reginald R., 1911-  Search this

Janis, Sidney, 1896-1989  Search this

Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005  Search this

Kadish, Reuben, 1913-1992  Search this

Maddox, Charles  Search this

Matter, Mercedes  Search this

McCoy, Sanford, Mrs.  Search this

Miller, Daniel  Search this

Miller, Robert, 1932 Apr. 17-  Search this

Motherwell, Robert  Search this

Namuth, Hans  Search this

Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990  Search this

Pollock, Charles C.  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956 -- Photographs  Search this

Rose, Barbara  Search this

Rouche, Burton  Search this

Smith, Tony, 1912-  Search this

Still, Clyfford, 1904-  Search this

Valliere, James  Search this

Wasserman, Tamara E.  Search this

Wright, William  Search this

Zogbaum, Wilfrid, 1915-1965  Search this

Extent:

16.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Motion pictures (visual works)

Video recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Transcripts

Date:

circa 1914-1984

bulk 1942-1984

Summary:

The papers of abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock and wife Lee Krasner measure 16.1 linear feet and date from circa 1914 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1942 to 1984. The collection documents their personal and professional lives, as well as the legacy of Jackson Pollock's work after his death. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings by Krasner and others, research material, business and financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork by others, photographs, interview transcripts, audio and video recordings, and motion picture film.

Scope and Content Note:

The papers of abstract expressionist painters Jackson Pollock and wife Lee Krasner measure 16.1 linear feet and date from circa 1914 to 1984, with the bulk of the material dating from 1942 to 1984. The collection documents their personal and professional lives, as well as the legacy of Jackson Pollock's work after his death. Found are biographical material, correspondence, writings by Krasner and others, research material, business and financial records, printed material, scrapbooks, artwork by others, photographs, interview transcripts, audio and video recordings, and motion picture film.

The collection is divided into two series, the first of which focuses on Pollock and includes his scattered papers dating from circa 1914 to his death in 1956, as well as Krasner's papers dating from his death to 1984 about managing Pollock's legacy. This series includes biographical materials, including transcripts and audio recordings of an interview with William Wright in 1949; Pollock's and Krasner's correspondence with Thomas Hart Benton, Betty Parsons Gallery, Bill Davis, B. H. Friedman, Reginald Isaacs, Sidney Janis, Violet De Lazlo, Martha Jackson Gallery, Alfonso Ossorio, Tony Smith, and Clyfford Still, and with one another; Krasner's correspondence concerning Pollock's estate and artwork after his death; numerous writings about Pollock, including an original draft of Bryan Robertson's biography and an essay by Clement Greenberg.

James Valliere extensive research files on Pollock for a never-published biography were given to Krasner and filed in Series 1. These include scattered correspondence with Lee Krasner, and Pollock's family and friends, including Charles Pollock, Thomas Hart Benton, and Robert Motherwell. There are also transcripts of interviews Valliere conducted with Pollock's friends and colleagues, including James Brooks, Dorothy Dehner, Clement Greenberg, Reuben Kadish, Lee Krasner, Charles Maddox, Mrs. Sanford McCoy, Daniel T. Miller, Robert Miller, and Tony Smith. The original audio reels and duplicates exist for many and are filed here. Additional interviews were conducted with Willem de Kooning, Alfonso Ossorio, and Burton Rouche, but not transcribed - these are filed in Series 1.10, Audio Recordings and Motion Picture Film.

Also found in Series 1 are scattered business records documenting Krasner's handling of Pollock's estate and legacy; printed materials relating to Pollock, including published biographies, exhibition catalogs, and clippings; two scrapbooks; and a sketchbook by an unidentified artist. Numerous photographs of Pollock include childhood and family photographs, photographs of Pollock in his studio by Hans Namuth, Rudy Burckhardt, and Herbert Matter, photographs of Pollock with Lee Krasner, and exhibition photographs. Audio recordings and motion film in Series 1 include a 1964 16mm film about Pollock (VHS copies are available) and reel-to-reel recordings of untranscribed interviews of Pollock's friends and colleagues by James Valliere, including interviews with Willem de Kooning and Alfonso Ossorio. Additional transcribed interviews are filed in subseries 1.4.

Lee Krasner's papers documenting her own career are arranged in Series 2 and date from 1927-1984. Biographical materials include resumes and awards, school documents, family documentation, and exhibition lists. Her correspondence with artist friends and art colleagues is extensive and includes many letters from artists such as Philip Johnson, Ray Eames, Cleve Gray, and Hans Namuth. She also maintained correspondence with many art historians and critics, curators, gallery owners, collectors, arts-related and social organizations, admirers, and family members.

There are thirteen transcripts of interviews with Krasner by Bruce Glaser, Barbara Cavaliere, Andrew Forge, Emily Wasserman, Barbara Rose, and others. The original audio recordings for these transcripts are filed in series 2.10, along with other audio recordings for which there are no transcripts, including interviews by John Gruen, Delores Holmes, Mercedes Matter, the Martha Dean Radio Show, NBC Today Show, and WQXR radio. There are also audio recordings of Krasner's lectures in series 2.10.

Krasner's papers also include writings and reminiscences by Krasner; writings about Krasner; printed materials such as exhibition catalogs and clippings; and one scrapbook containing clippings and photographs. Numerous photographs are of Krasner, including portrait photographs taken by Hans Namuth; of Krasner with Jackson Pollock and family and friends, and of her exhibitions and artwork.

Users should note that Pollock's and Krasner's papers contain similar types of material that often overlap in subject matter, especially among the correspondence and photographs.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into 2 series:

Missing Title

Series 1: Jackson Pollock papers and Lee Krasner papers about Jackson Pollock, circa 1914-1984 (Box 1-7, 16, OV 18, FC 19-22; 7.4 linear feet)

Series 2: Lee Krasner papers, circa 1927-1984 (Box 7-15, 17; 8.6 linear feet)

Biographical Note:

Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, in Cody, Wyoming, the youngest of five sons. His family moved several times during his childhood, finally settling in Los Angeles. In 1930 he joined his older brother, Charles, in New York City, and studied with Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League of New York. Pollock worked during the 1930s for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project. During 1936 he worked in artist David Alfaro Siqueiros's Experimental Workshop. In 1938 he began psychiatric treatment for alcoholism, and his artwork was greatly influenced by Jungian analysis and the exploration of unconscious symbolism.

In 1943 Pollock had his first one-man exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim's New York gallery, Art of this Century, and continued to exhibit there over the next several years. A major turning point in Pollock's life and art was in 1945 when he married fellow artist Lee Krasner and moved to East Hampton, Long Island. There he developed his mature painting style, and became famous for his abstract pouring technique on large canvases. The height of his creativity spanned from 1947 to 1952, and his work was promoted by art critic Clement Greenberg. Along with other abstract expressionists including Hans Hofmann, Alfonso Ossorio, and Barnett Newman, he joined the Betty Parsons Gallery in 1947. He had his most successful one-man show in 1950 which was widely publicized and praised. This exhibition, combined with a 1949 feature article in LIFE magazine, made Pollock an American celebrity.

In 1952 Pollock moved his work to Sidney Janis Gallery and returned to earlier motifs in a search for new breakthroughs. The last few years of his life he suffered from mental and physical health problems, and in August, 1956 he died in a car accident. His wife, Lee Krasner, oversaw his estate and worked with many museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, on Pollock retrospective exhibitions.

Lee Krasner was born Lenore Krassner in 1908 in Brooklyn, New York to Russian immigrant parents. In 1926 she was admitted to the Women's Art School of The Cooper Union, and in 1928 she attended the Art Students League. After graduating from The Cooper Union in 1929, she attended the National Academy of Design until 1932. After briefly attending City College and Greenwich House, she worked for the Public Works of Art Project and the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, and finally became an assistant in 1935 on the WPA Federal Art Project, Mural Division. From 1937 to 1940 she studied at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts and began exhibiting with the American Abstract Artists group.

In 1942 Krasner met Pollock as they were both preparing to exhibit work in the same show. Although they married and she became immersed in his career, she continued to exhibit her own work with other abstract artists and from 1946 to 1949 worked on the Little Image painting series. In 1953 she began working on collages, a medium she would come back to again later in her career. After Pollock's death her work was greatly influence by her sadness and anger, creating a visible evolution of her style.

For the rest of her career, Krasner consistently exhibited her work in both group and solo exhibitions. She had her first retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery, London, in 1965, and in 1966, she joined Marlborough Gallery, New York which represented Pollock's work as well. In the 1970s and early 1980s Krasner won many awards for her achievement in the visual arts, including the Augustus St. Gaudens Medal and the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. She returned to the medium of collage, and in 1976 joined the Pace Gallery, New York. In 1981 she joined the Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Lee Krasner continued creating art until her death in 1984.

Related Material:

Found in the Archives of American Art are the Charles Pollock Papers, 1902-1990, which includes correspondence, photographs, and other files relating to his brother, Jackson Pollock. Other resources in the Archives are oral history interviews with Lee Krasner, including a series of interviews conducted by Dorothy Seckler between 1964 and 1968, and interviews conducted by Barbara Rose in 1966 and Doloris Holmes in 1972.

Provenance:

The papers of Jackson Pollock were donated in 1983 by Lee Krasner through Eugene V. Thaw shortly before her death. Additional material about Pollock and the papers of Lee Krasner were donated in 1985 by Eugene V. Thaw, executor of Lee Krasner's estate.

Restrictions:

The collection has been digitized and is available online via AAA's website.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State)  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Economic aspects  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Genre/Form:

Motion pictures (visual works)

Video recordings

Photographs

Interviews

Sound recordings

Scrapbooks

Sketchbooks

Transcripts

Citation:

Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers, circa 1914-1984. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

Identifier:

AAA.polljack

See more items in:

Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9ac60d2fa-adb8-4919-9ebb-ddef5dfaa3f8

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-polljack

Interviewee:

Agostini, Peter  Search this

Interviewer:

Roberts, Colette, 1910-  Search this

Names:

Columbia University -- Faculty  Search this

United States. Works Progress Administration  Search this

Bontecou, Lee, 1931-  Search this

Chamberlain, John, 1927-2011  Search this

Chryssa, 1933-2013  Search this

Cornell, Joseph  Search this

Cézanne, Paul, 1839-1906  Search this

De Chirico, Giorgio, 1888-  Search this

De Kooning, Willem, 1904-1997  Search this

Demuth, Charles, 1883-1935  Search this

Di Suvero, Mark, 1933-  Search this

Dove, Arthur Garfield, 1880-1946  Search this

Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-1985  Search this

Duchamp, Marcel, 1887-1968  Search this

Ferber, Herbert, 1906-1991  Search this

Flannagan, John Bernard, 1895?-1942  Search this

Giacometti, Alberto, 1901-1966  Search this

Greenberg, Clement, 1909-1994  Search this

Hague, Raoul, 1905-1993  Search this

Hare, David, 1917-1992  Search this

Hartley, Marsden, 1877-1943  Search this

Hopper, Edward, 1882-1967  Search this

Judd, Donald, 1928-1994  Search this

Kaprow, Allan  Search this

Kienholz, Edward, 1927-  Search this

Kline, Franz, 1910-1962  Search this

Kohn, Gabriel, 1910-1975  Search this

Kolbe, Georg, 1877-1947  Search this

La Tour, Onya, 1896-1976  Search this

Lachaise, Gaston, 1882-1935  Search this

Lassaw, Ibram, 1913-2003  Search this

Lippold, Richard, 1915-2002  Search this

Lipton, Seymour, 1903-1986  Search this

Macdonald-Wright, Stanton, 1890-1973  Search this

Maillol, Aristide, 1861-1944  Search this

Manship, Paul, 1885-1966  Search this

Marca-Relli, Conrad, 1913-2000  Search this

Marin, John, 1870-1953  Search this

Marisol, 1930-2016  Search this

Matisse, Henri, 1869-1954  Search this

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891  Search this

Mondrian, Piet, 1872-1944  Search this

Morris, Robert, 1931-2018  Search this

Nakian, Reuben, 1897-1986  Search this

Noguchi, Isamu, 1904-1988  Search this

O'Keeffe, Georgia, 1887-1986  Search this

Oldenburg, Claes, 1929-  Search this

Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Pompon, François, 1855-1933  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rivera, Diego, 1886-1957  Search this

Roszak, Theodore, 1907-1981  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Samaras, Lucas, 1936-  Search this

Scarpitta, Salvatore, 1919-2007  Search this

Segal, George, 1924-2000  Search this

Sheeler, Charles, 1883-1965  Search this

Smith, David, 1906-1965  Search this

Smith, Tony, 1912-1980  Search this

Spaventa, George, 1918-  Search this

Stankiewicz, Richard, 1922-1983  Search this

Sugarman, George, 1912-1999  Search this

Tobey, Mark  Search this

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892  Search this

Zorach, William, 1887-1966  Search this

Extent:

99 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Sound recordings

Date:

1968

Scope and Contents:

An interview of Peter Agostini conducted in 1968, by Colette Roberts, for the Archives of American Art at 151 Avenue B, New York, New York.

Mr. Agostini speaks of his childhood spent living throughout the five boroughs of New York; his interactions with clients of his father's acting employment agency; his early education in Catholic school and the creative freedom allotted by the nuns; his first feelings of isolation as an artist at the age of seven; the development of a sense of communication as the result of the loss of his mother at the age of three and time spent at a school for orphans; his early realization and vision of artistic destiny; his religious interests which lead to mysticism in his earlier work; his time spent working freely in the DaVinci Studio with Spaventa; the discovery by Hess of his works in Gallerie Grimaud; his attainment of the Longview Grant; his working experience throughout the Depression as part of the WPA casting plaster mannequins while working indirectly with Pollack as well as Marca Relli; his subsequent move to designing department store windows (use of Mondrian-like forms and lines); his feelings of his position as an observer; the importance of communication through art (communication without words); his rejection of the Abstract Expressionist group and choice of independence; the influence of the sculpture of Kolbe and Bache in the thirties; Clement Greenberg's distaste for his work; his feelings about the relative failure to sell his work due its unusual edginess and mystery; his role in the introduction of the work of contemporary European artists (Chausserian, Gauthier, Modrian) to the American group; his description of his own work as "traditionless"; his feelings of self-importance as one of the most original sculptors in the art world; his influence on the younger generation, particularly Marisol; the enslavement to originality that the younger generation faces; his attitudes towards American Art forms and their lack of rebellious spirit; the virtues of the American writers, such as Poe, Whitman, and Melville as American "knapsack" writers; his personal technique which places an emphasis on the "skin" or volume of something; his attempt to create quiet art, or art that merely indicates features; his frustration with teaching and the problems of regurgitated knowledge; the role of Meyer Shapiro in his teaching career at Columbia; the formation of the Club and its similarity to the Cubist's café scene; his opinions on the relationship of sex and sensuality in American art; his personal struggles, including the loss of his second wife and two of his brothers, in addition to the estrangement of his only daughter by his first wife; his feelings on the role of psycho analysis and personal history in a work of art; his present works which feature the "swell." For the majority of the second half of the interview Ms. Roberts asks Mr. Agostini to express his opinions on the work of: Kline; DeKooning; Duchamp; Oldenburg; La Tour; DeChirico; Maillol; Pompon; Rothko; Chardin; Cezanne; Giacometti; Reinhardt; Chryssa; Tony Smith; Segal; Lachaise; Zorach; Manship; Flannagan; Kelly; Lassaw; David Smith; Hare; Lipton; Ferber; Lippold; Roszak; Nakian; Noguchi; Hague; Kohn; di Suvero; Chamberlain; Kaprow; Sugarman; Stankiewicz; Bontecou; Scarpitta; Cornell; Keinholz; Rivera; Judd; Robert Morris; O'Keeffe; Samaras; Mark Tobey; Marin; Pollock; Hartley; Dove; Macdonald-Wright; Demuth; Sheeler; Hopper; Mirot; Matisse; DuBuffet.

Biographical / Historical:

Peter Agostini (1913-1993) was a sculptor from New York, New York.

General:

Originally recorded on 3 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 28 digital wav files. Duration is 10 hrs., 37 min.

Transferred from 4 3" reels.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics, and administrators.

Topic:

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Sound recordings

Sponsor:

Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.

Identifier:

AAA.agosti68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94f33a1ab-e475-4a6f-8b0b-f9822b288239

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-agosti68

Creator:

Ossorio, Alfonso, 1916-1990  Search this

Interviewer:

Selvig, Forrest  Search this

Names:

Harvard University -- Students  Search this

Signa Gallery  Search this

Dubuffet, Jean, 1901-1985  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Extent:

35 Pages (Transcript)

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Pages

Interviews

Date:

1968 November 19

Scope and Contents:

Interview of Alfonso A. Ossorio conducted 1968 November 19, by Forrest Selvig, for the Archives of American Art.

Ossorio speaks of his youth and education in England and the United States; attending Harvard; working as a medical illustrator for the Army; coming to New York and becoming acquainted with Jackson Pollock and other New York artists; a mural commission he received for a church in the Philippines; the difficulty of introducing new ideas into Catholic art; traveling to Paris; his association with Jean Dubuffet; changes in his technique; his work in collage; his affiliation with the Signa Gallery; abstract expressionism.

Biographical / Historical:

Alfonso Ossorio (1916-1990) was a painter in Wainscott, New York.

Provenance:

This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.

Restrictions:

Patrons must use transcript.

Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Occupation:

Collagists -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Topic:

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Church decoration and ornament  Search this

Art and religion  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- Interviews  Search this

Genre/Form:

Interviews

Identifier:

AAA.ossori68

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw920db73cc-a92b-4339-b149-3e77b7e7fb36

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-ossori68

Collection Creator:

Smithson, Robert  Search this

Container:

Box 3, Folder 29

Type:

Archival materials

Date:

circa 1965

Collection Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center. Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Collection Rights:

The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, holds the intellectual property rights, including copyright, to all materials created by Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt with the exception of the following items: two holiday cards found in box 11, folders 22-23. For these two items, copyright held by Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Requests for permission to reproduce should be submitted to ARS.

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Collection Citation:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers, 1905-1987. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Alice L. Walton Foundation.

See more items in:

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers

Robert Smithson and Nancy Holt papers / Series 4: Writings / 4.1: By Robert Smithson

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw9a6254b5d-fca0-41bb-9457-ade7b7d4c955

EDAN-URL:

ead_component:sova-aaa-smitrobe-ref191

Creator:

Parsons, Betty  Search this

Names:

Betty Parsons Gallery  Search this

Bess, Forrest, 1911-1977  Search this

Congdon, William, 1912-1998  Search this

Pollock, Jackson, 1912-1956  Search this

Reinhardt, Ad, 1913-1967  Search this

Rothko, Mark, 1903-1970  Search this

Extent:

61.1 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Video recordings

Drawings

Date:

1916-1991

bulk 1946-1983

Summary:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 61.1 linear feet and date from 1916 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons's personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection.

Scope and Content Note:

The Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers measure 61.1 linear feet and date from 1916 to 1991, with the bulk of the material dating from 1946-1983. Records provide extensive documentation of the gallery's operations from its inception in 1946 to its closing in 1983 and of the activities of Betty Parsons as one the leading art dealers of contemporary American Art in the latter half of the twentieth century, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists. Over one third of the of the collection is comprised of artists files containing correspondence, price lists, and printed materials. Additional correspondence is with galleries, dealers, art institutions, private collectors, and the media. Also found are exhibition files, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales records, stock inventories, personal financial records, and photographs. Betty Parsons's personal papers consist of early curatorial files, pocket diaries, personal correspondence, and evidence of her own artwork, including sketchbooks, and files documenting her personal art collection. Personal papers also include personal photographs.

Artists files, the largest and most extensive series, consist of a wide variety of documents, including biographical materials, correspondence with or related to the artist, exhibition catalogs and announcements, sales and expense invoices, clippings, price lists, and photographs of the artist, exhibitions, and artwork. The files reflect Parsons's close personal relationships with certain artists, particularly Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Barnett Newman. Extensive documentation is also found for Forrest Bess, William Congdon, Paul Feeley, Thomas George, Alexander Liberman, Seymour Lipton, Richard Pousette-Dart, Jesse Reichek, and Jack Youngerman. Historians and researchers will find these files to be an invaluable resource both in tracing Betty Parsons's role in promoting Abstract Expressionism and researching individual artists.

Exhibition files primarily document the gallery's infrequent group or themed exhibitions. Of particular note are the files on The Ideographic Picture, which was organized by Barnett Newman and included his work, as well as that of Pietro Lazzari, Boris Margo, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Theodoros Stamos, and Clyfford Still. Price lists, artist biographies and exhibition schedules are housed in the general exhibition files. Loan exhibition files provide documentation of artwork borrowed by other galleries or institutions for exhibitions, as well as shows outside of the gallery that were organized by Betty Parsons. Also found are gallery exhibition guest books, and announcements and catalogs.

Gallery correspondence is primarily with galleries and dealers, museums, arts organizations, and collectors. Scattered letters from artists are also found, although the bulk of the artists' correspondence is filed in the Artists Files. Also found here are memoranda and letters between Betty Parsons and her staff that contain detailed information concerning Parsons's schedule and gallery activities. Similar correspondence is found amongst the correspondence files within the series Betty Parsons papers.

Appraisal and conservation files include correspondence, appraisal invoices, forms, and appraisal requests and other information from the Art Dealers Association of America, and conservation invoices and reports. The majority of the appraisal records contain information about the specific works of art, including artist, title, date, current owner and the estimated value at the time of the request. Conservation records document conservation treatments undertaken by outside conservators to gallery stock.

Sales, purchases, stock and inventory are well documented in the sales and inventory records. The records provide detailed information about individual sales, prices of individual pieces of artwork, consignments, and loans. Most sales records also include detailed information about the buyer and are a valuable resource for provenance research. Files documenting the general administration, routine business operations, and financial transactions (not individual sales) of the gallery are housed in the general business and financial records. These records include ledgers, receipts, tax records, and banking records. There is some limited information about works of art scattered amongst the receipts and in the "in/out slips" files. Legal records house general legal documents and those concerning specific lawsuits. Of particular note is the file detailing the lawsuit between Betty Parsons and Sidney Janis over the fifth floor of 24 West 57th Street.

The remainder of the collection consists of Betty Parsons's personal papers which document her career prior to opening her own gallery, her work as an artist, and her personal art collection.

Some information about Parsons's work prior to opening her own gallery is found in the early curatorial files she retained from her curatorial and administrative work at the Wakefield Gallery and the Mortimer Brandt Gallery. Clippings, correspondence, announcements, exhibition lists and exhibition files are found. For both positions, she kept only the exhibition files for a small group of exhibitions organized around a specific theme, the most notable being the exhibition of Pre-Columbian Sculpture at the Wakefield Gallery.

Biographical materials include copies of her biography, family genealogies, photographs of Parsons, interviews with Colette Roberts and WYNC radio, memberships, photographs, and ephemera, including a collection of programs and invitations from events that she attended. Throughout her life Parsons gave generously of her time to various cultural and charitable institutions and was awarded for her contributions. There are also a number of files that document her speaking engagements, her participation as a juror in numerous juried exhibitions, charitable work, and awards that she received.

Parsons's personal correspondence files reflect how deeply Parsons's life was intertwined with the gallery. There are letters from museum directors, dealers, artists seeking representation, and personal letters from artists with whom she had close personal relationships, most notably Larry Bigelow, Alexander Calder, William Condon, and Ad Reinhardt. There are also letters from the English artist Adge Baker, with whom Parsons was romantically involved. Correspondence also includes several files of postcards and Christmas cards.

Pocket diaries and engagement calendars, spanning from 1933-1981, record social engagements, meetings, vacations, and telephone numbers. Also found are circa two linear feet of notebooks and sketchbooks, many of which are annotated with addresses, poetry, journal entries, and other observations of people, places, and travels. Writings by others include writings about Betty Parsons or the Betty Parsons Gallery, such as Lawrence Alloway's unpublished typescript titled "An American Gallery" and other topics.

Printed material consists of exhibition announcements and catalogs, art magazines, and newspaper and magazine clippings about Betty Parsons, her family and acquaintances, artists, and other art related topics, coupled with a miscellaneous selection of clippings, and a video recording, on topics that presumably captured Parsons's attention.

Personal art work records document Betty Parsons's career as an artist through inventories, group and solo exhibitions files, price lists, appraisals, sales and consignment invoices. Photographs are primarily reproductions of her works of art, although there are scattered photographs of exhibition installations.

Betty Parsons's private art collection files document her extensive personal collection of art that included works by Jackson Pollock, Agnes Martin, Romare Bearden, Barnett Newman, and Mark Rothko, in addition to Amlash sculpture from ancient Persia and primitive sculpture from New Hebrides. These files include inventories, lists, exhibition records, sales and purchase invoices, and photographs. There are also files for donations and loans from Parsons's personal collection to museums and fund raising auctions for several non-profit institutions.

Finally, the personal financial records provide information about the Parsons's family finances and her personal financial success as an art dealer. In addition to her own investments, Parsons inherited shares in family investments through the estates of her parents, J. Fred Pierson, Jr. and Suzanne Miles Pierson, and younger sister, Emily Rayner. Real estate files include correspondence, utility bills, receipts, area maps, and land plots for houses in Sheepscot, Maine and St. Maartens, Netherlands Antilles. Tax returns, ledger worksheets, receipts, banking statements, deposit slips, and cancelled checks are among the other financial records.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged as seven series. Many of the series are further divided into subseries.

Missing Title

Series 1: Artists Files, 1935-1983 (19.4 linear feet; Boxes 1-18, 51, 55-56, OVs 53, 65)

Series 2: Exhibition Files, 1941-1983 (2.9 linear feet; Boxes 18-21, 51, 55, OVs 54, 66)

Series 3: Correspondence Files, 1941-1983 (3.9 linear feet; Boxes 21-24, 52, 56)

Series 4: Appraisal Files, 1954-1983 (0.7 linear feet; Box 24)

Series 5: Sales and Inventory Records, 1946-1983 (3.9 linear feet; Boxes 25-28, 51)

Series 6: General Business and Financial Records, 1946-1983 (9.3 linear feet; Boxes 28-38, 51, 56)

Series 7: Betty Parsons Personal Papers, 1916-1991 (21 linear feet; Boxes 38-51, 55-64, OVs 65-67)

Historical Note:

Betty Parsons (1900-1982) was one of the leading art dealers in New York City specializing in modern art, particularly the work of the Abstract Expressionists, and an abstract painter and sculptor in her own right. She opened Betty Parsons Gallery in 1946 at 15 E. 57th St., later moving to 24 W. 57th St.

The history of the Betty Parsons Gallery is inextricably bound to the life and experiences of its founder. Betty Parsons was born Betty Bierne Pierson on January 31, 1900 in New York City. She enjoyed a privileged childhood, which included vacation homes in Newport and Palm Beach. Her only formal education was a five-year stint at the prestigious Chapin School from 1910-1915, where she met many of the women who would become life-long friends and supporters. In the spring of 1920, she married Schuyler Livingston Parsons from one of New York's oldest families. The marriage ended after only three years and the couple traveled to Paris where they could obtain a divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. She retained her married surname and purchased a house on the rue Boulard in Paris, where she remained for ten years, pursuing studies in painting and sculpture.

Financial constraints forced Parsons to return to the United States in 1933. She first traveled west to California, but it was her return to New York in 1935 that marked the start of her career as an art dealer. Her first opportunity to connect with the New York art world came after a successful exhibition of her watercolors at the Midtown Galleries where the owner, Alan Gruskin, noted Parson's faithful and wealthy group of supporters and offered her work installing exhibitions and selling paintings on commission. Her work for the Midtown Galleries led to a second position in the Park Avenue gallery of Mary Sullivan, one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art. Here, Parsons learned the business of running a gallery. By 1940 Parsons was ready to take on more independent responsibility and agreed to manage a gallery within the Wakefield Bookshop. In this job, she exercised full curatorial control by selecting artists and organizing exhibitions. She championed then unknown contemporary American artists and the gallery's roster soon included Saul Steinberg, Hedda Sterne, Alfonso Ossorio, Joseph Cornell, Walter Murch, and Theodore Stamos. Although the majority of the exhibitions were solo shows, there were a few group shows and themed exhibitions, such as Love in Art (1941) and Ballet in Art (1942). Under Parson's direction, the gallery hosted an important exhibition of Pre-Columbian sculpture, curated by Barnett Newman.

When the owners of the Wakefield Bookshop decided to close the gallery late in 1944, Mortimer Brandt, a dealer who specialized in Old Master paintings and drawings, offered her a position as head of the newly created contemporary section of his gallery. Many of the artists who had shown with Parsons at the Wakefield Gallery followed her to her new gallery, where they were joined by Ad Reinhardt, Boris Mango, and Hans Hofmann. While the exhibitions garnered attention from the press and the interest of contemporary artists, the contemporary section was not a financial success and Brandt opted to close his gallery in 1946.

Using $1000 of her own money and an additional borrowed $4000, Parsons sublet the space that previously housed Mortimer Brandt's contemporary section, on the fifth floor of 15 East 57th Street, and opened the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In many respects the early years of the Betty Parsons Gallery were the most vital, as it was during the period of 1947-1951 that the gallery became linked with the Abstract Expressionists and the history of post-WWII American Art. In an unpublished history of the gallery, noted art critic Lawrence Alloway stated that the significance of the gallery's early exhibitions ranks with Durand-Ruel's Impressionists exhibitions or Kahnweiler's shows of the Cubists. Betty Parsons Gallery quickly became one of the most prestigious galleries in New York City associated with new American Art of all styles. Her close friend Barnett Newman organized the gallery's inaugural exhibition of Northwest Coast Indian Art and he soon began to exhibit his own work at the gallery. When Peggy Guggenheim's Art of This Century Gallery closed, Jackson Pollock, Clyfford Still, and Mark Rothko joined Parsons' growing stable of artists. Although Parsons continued to promote and exhibit many of the artists whom she had previously discovered, these four artists dominated this period. Newman, Pollock, Still, and Rothko worked closely together, holding themselves apart from the other artists somewhat. They were actively involved in the curatorial process and often hung their own shows. For these artists, the exhibition itself was an artistic act of creation.

Parsons provided a supportive environment and allowed her artists enormous freedom in planning and designing their exhibitions. She was not, however, an aggressive salesperson. During this early period the gallery ledgers document sales to an impressive array of museums including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as important collectors such as Edward Root and Duncan Phillips. Nevertheless, the art that the gallery promoted was not yet widely accepted. Sales were few, prices were low and the business would not turn a profit for several years. Meanwhile, there was mounting pressure from Pollock, Newman, Still, and Rothko to drop some of the other artists from Parsons' stable and focus all resources on them. They wanted to be promoted to a larger audience and have their work sold at higher prices, but Parsons enjoyed discovering new artists and did not want to be restricted in this endeavor. The year 1951 marks the last time that Pollock's drip paintings or the monumental works of Newman, Rothko or Still were shown at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

In the following years the Betty Parsons Gallery continued to attract a diverse group of talented artists. Ellsworth Kelly, Richard Tuttle, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jack Youngerman had their first New York exhibitions at the Betty Parsons Gallery. Parsons opened Section Eleven in 1958, a short-lived annex to the main gallery, so that she could promote younger, less well-known artists. It closed in 1960 due to the administrative difficulties in running two essentially separate galleries.

In 1962, Sidney Janis, another prominent art dealer, started proceedings to evict Parsons from the floor that they shared on 15 East 57th Street. The Betty Parsons Gallery moved to 24 West 57th Street in 1963, where it remained until it closed in 1983, following Parsons' death the preceding year. Throughout the gallery's history, Parsons continued to promote faithful artists such as Hedda Sterne and Saul Steinberg, who had been with her from the beginning and to seek out new talent, both for her main gallery and for other venues, such as the short-lived Parsons-Truman Gallery, which she opened in 1974 with former Parsons Gallery director Jock Truman to show works on paper by emerging artists.

In addition to being an art dealer, Betty Parsons was a respected artist and collector. With her connoisseur's eye and connections, Parsons amassed an impressive private collection of art. She bought her first piece while an art student in Paris in the 1920s, a small gouache by Zadkine, but did not begin acquiring works in earnest until she was established as an art dealer. Partial inventories of her personal collection show that the majority of her collection contained works by artists associated with the gallery. Mark Rothko, Hans Hofmann, Ad Reinhardt, Agnes Martin, and Kenzo Okada were among the artists represented. Many were gifts from the artists, such as an ink drawing by Jackson Pollock, inscribed "For Betty." Selections from her collection appeared in small museums across the United States, including a traveling exhibition organized by Fitch College, New York, in 1968. In her role as a promoter of contemporary American art, Parsons lent generously from her collection, particularly to the federal Art in the Embassies Program. Throughout her life she also donated works to a variety of museums, most notably, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.

Parsons frequently claimed that her desire to pursue a career as an artist stemmed from a visit to the Armory Show when she was thirteen. In her late teens, after pressuring her father for art lessons, she studied with the sculptor Gutzon Burglum of Mount Rushmore fame. In Paris, she continued her studies first with Antoine Bourdelle, whose sculptures she had admired at the Armory Show, and later with Ossip Zadkine. The first exhibition of her work, figurative watercolors and sculptures, took place in Paris in 1927. As she matured as an artist, her art became more abstract. Her late works were painted wood sculptures that she pieced together from wood that she found near her studio in Long Island. Parsons's work was exhibited in more than thirty solo exhibitions, including, Betty Parsons; Paintings, Gouaches and Sculpture, 1955-1968, at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. During her lifetime, she would not allow her works to be shown in her own gallery. Shortly after she died of a stroke in 1982, In Memoriam, Betty Parsons: Late Sculptures, opened at the Betty Parsons Gallery.

Related Material:

Also found in the Archives of American Art are oral history interviews with Betty Parsons, June 4-9, 1969, by Paul Cummings, and June 11, 1981 by Gerald Silk.

Separated Material:

Some of the material originally loaned for microfilming in 1968 and 1969 was not included in later donations and can be viewed on microfilm reels N68/62-N68/74 and N69/105-N69/106. Loaned materials are not described in the container listing in this finding aid.

Provenance:

The gallery donated some records in 1974, many of which had been loaned earlier for microfilming. The bulk of the collection was donated in 1984 and 1986 by William Rayner and Christopher Schwabacher, executors of the Estate of Betty Parsons. Additional material was donated by William Rayner in 1998 and Christopher Schwabacher in 2017. Additional material was donated in 2018 by the Lee Hall estate via Carolyn Crozier and Deborah Jacobson, co-executors. Hall was Parsons's biographer and had the material in her possession at the time of Parsons's death. An additional photograph of Parons and Marie Carr Taylor by Henri Cartier-Bresson was donated in 2021 by Mary Carpenter, who inherited the photograph from her mother, Nan Thorton Jones, who received it as a gift from Taylor.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Researchers interested in accessing audiovisual recordings in this collection must use access copies. Contact References Services for more information.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Gallery owners -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Art dealers -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Sculptors -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Women art dealers  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Abstract expressionist  Search this

Genre/Form:

Sketchbooks

Interviews

Video recordings

Drawings

Citation:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers, 1916-1991. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Sponsor:

Funding for the processing and digitization of this collection was provided by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Walton Family Foundation.

Identifier:

AAA.parsbett

See more items in:

Betty Parsons Gallery records and personal papers

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw956c1036f-b673-4dc1-8c1b-cde0bd641c60

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-parsbett

Creator:

Freed, Hermine  Search this

Names:

Putzel, Howard, 1898-1945  Search this

Extent:

0.01 Linear feet

Type:

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Date:

1945-1966

Summary:

The papers of Hermine Benhaim Freed measure 0.01 linear feet (7 items) and date from 1945 to 1966. The collection mostly consists of material Freed gathered about New York gallery owner Howard Putzel, such as Benhaim's paper on Howard Putzel, "Howard Putzel and the Beginnings of Abstract Expressionism," written for a Modern Art Seminar at New York University. Also included are letters to Freed, 1966, about Putzel from Joseph Allen, Peggy Guggenheim, Kenneth MacPherson and Gordon Onslow-Ford; and a typescript and a clipping of reviews of the exhibition "A Problem for Critics," 1945, organized by Putzel.

Scope and Contents:

The papers of Hermine Benhaim Freed measure 0.01 linear feet (1 folder) and consists of 7 items and date from 1945 to 1966. The collection mostly consists of material gathered about New York gallery owner Howard Putzel, such as Freed's paper on Howard Putzel, "Howard Putzel and the Beginnings of Abstract Expressionism," written for a Modern Art Seminar at New York University. Also included are letters to Freed, 1966, about Putzel from Joseph Allen, Peggy Guggenheim, Kenneth MacPherson and Gordon Onslow-Ford; and a typescript and a clipping of reviews of the exhibition "A Problem for Critics," 1945, organized by Putzel.

Arrangement:

Due to the small size of this collection, the papers are arranged as one series.

Series 1: Hermine Benhaim Freed papers relating to Howard Putzel, 1945-1966 (Folder 1; 7 items)

Biographical / Historical:

Hermine Benhaim Freed (1940-1998) was a painter and video artist in New York City. Freed studied painting at Cornell University and New York University, where she taught starting from the late 1960s.

Provenance:

The papers were donated to the Archives of American Art in 1972 by Hermine Benhaim Freed.

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research. Access to original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C. Research Center.

Rights:

The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.

Occupation:

Painters -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Video artists -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Educators -- New York (State) -- New York  Search this

Topic:

Art -- Collectors and collecting  Search this

Abstract expressionism  Search this

Women artists  Search this

Women painters  Search this

Women educators  Search this

Citation:

Hermine Benhaim Freed papers relating to Howard Putzel, 1945-1966. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Identifier:

AAA.benhherm

See more items in:

Hermine Benhaim Freed papers relating to Howard Putzel

Archival Repository:

Archives of American Art

GUID:

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw94bf840e1-82ca-4e2f-9abb-8b6b7b21dba8

EDAN-URL:

ead_collection:sova-aaa-benhherm